Being on a diet. True Love.

Here’s what I hate: being on a diet.

Headaches, hunger, and crankiness abound. Food is fun!!! Why in the world am I on a diet? I mean, most people outside of Hollywood would tell me that I am not over weight. (I’m not underweight either). You could say that I am like Goldilocks’ porridge: just right. My weight is fine for my height. I probably don’t need to focus on losing weight—but my reason for being on a diet is to develop healthier eating habits. (But, if I lose a few pounds, I definitely will not complain.) That’s the thing, in order to see if this diet is working, I have to get on the scale. That got me thinking about a truth that I’ve known for a long time, but never really let it sink in.

Let’s pretend that I have to follow a strict diet for the next several days (okay, so that’s not pretend), at the end of each day, I will jump on the scale to see how well I’ve done. And let’s pretend that if I don’t weigh the right amount, I get kicked off the island or something. But, what if I mess up? What if I guzzle a mocha to try to get rid of my headache (that’s not pretend either). What if I give into temptation? What if I don’t drink enough water? Well, I can tell you that I’ll be pretty afraid to get on the scale at the end of the day.

BUT, what if someone else could get on the scale for me? What if some waifish model could hop on, but it would count as my weight!? Wouldn’t that be great!?

That’s kind of like what happens when we accept Christ. When we realize that we can NEVER follow ALL of the rules perfectly and acknowledge Him as the only perfect one, he jumps on that scale for us. God sees Jesus’ perfect “weight” as our own. We are accepted.

Romans chapter 3 discusses this whole concept of our salvation being through faith in Christ rather than by perfectly following the law (because that is impossible for us). Jesus is the only perfect one and by accepting Him as Lord of our life, the Father sees His righteousness instead of our attempts at being good. Another cool thing though is that when we’ve asked Christ to live through us, then we mysteriously have the ability to live righteously by His power and Spirit in us. So, in attempting to keep with my dieting analogy: We not only get Christ’s weight as our own, we now have His power inside us to eat healthfully and love Brussel sprouts.

Here’s what I love: True Love.

I guess that seems redundant—“here’s what I love: love.” But that’s the only way to put it. At this year’s super bowl half time show, the Black Eyed Peas sang a song called “Where Is The Love?” The lyrics are pretty interesting. http://www.lyricsondemand.com/b/blackeyedpeaslyrics/whereisthelovelyrics.html

Plus, Valentines Day is coming up and there are pink and red hearts everywhere. ‘Cause that’s what love is: candy hearts, flowers, and lingerie, right? So, I’ve been asking the Lord to show me where the love is—because I bet the BEP lyrics reflect what a lot of people are wondering when they look around at the state of the world. The song is correctly implying that love would fix a lot of the world’s problems—but, it’s difficult to love the rest of humanity when you don’t feel loved yourself. This creates a vicious cycle, because if we are depending on people, flowers, and chocolate to make us feel loved, then we are going to be let down every time.

However, there is a love that is true and powerful. The love God has for us. Here are some encouraging reminders the Lord showed me about His love.

Present: God’s love for us is near—Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will dance over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love… So, close your eyes. He is near to you. A strong warrior!--(who doesn’t need that?) Sometimes dancing with joy, sometimes being quiet in His love for you because it is so tender and close. Picture a strong soldier gently wiping a tear from your eye and then leading you in a dance of joy simply because He loves you.

Poured over us: God’s love is poured into our hearts. Have you ever been washing an over sized pan in the sink? It fills up with water and then you have to pour it out. Picture that water flowing down. That’s like God’s love pouring freely into our heart. (Romans 5:5)

Indescribably huge: tall, wide, long, vast, deep, immense, gigantic, enormous, cosmic, everlasting, extensive, massive, multifaceted, unfathomable…God’s love, according to Ephesians 3:18-19, surpasses all knowledge of measurement. Christ’s love for us is almost too much to comprehend.

Redeems and Crowns: God’s love saves us. Psalm 103:4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion… God can completely change lives. He rescues us from the pit, but as if that were not enough, He then crowns us with love. His love is like a crown on our heads. Think about it. Wouldn’t you feel special if you went around wearing an actual crown? You’d hold your head high, smile, and feel pretty good. Feel that love resting on your head. It’s completely undeserved (you did just get pulled out of a pit), but it’s really there.

Never ending: Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing can make Him stop loving us. And no event or person can take us out of His loving hands. We may experience trouble, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. He still promises that His love is there. Death, life, angels, principalities, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth…none of this can separate us from God’s love. (Romans 8:35-39) Who doesn’t want the peace of knowing that they will always, always be loved?

I marvel at the fact that I have God’s very near, very real love being POURED into my heart. This love of His is so huge and powerful that it rescues me and changes me. I can wear His love like a crown and walk with my chin held high. Oh, and best of all—His love is permanent. Nothing will make Him stop loving me.

Happy Valentines Day.